Bolt, Uber drivers were involved in unethical practices in airports, FAAN MD

The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, on Friday, clarified the recent impasses between the country airport management body and e-hailing companies whose car drivers were involved in unethical practices around the airport.

Kuku, who spoke while addressing issues surrounding the activities of e-hailing and car-hire operators at the nation’s airports, said FAAN’s responsibility was not to determine the commercial fortunes of individual e-hailing companies but to ensure that passengers using airport facilities were adequately protected.

She spoke at the second edition of the induction and unveiling of Montage Ceremony of Honorees into the Nigeria Aviation Hall of Fame in Lagos where she was also honoured, alongside the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, among others.

“We did receive a lot of concerns, especially around the December holiday period, about passengers who took some of the e-hailing – so I don’t want to mention one or the other – but used some of the e-hailing services, and even the car hire services, who had very terrible experiences.

“Some of them went all the way from intimidation, to being dropped in other places, and even more extreme situations,” she said.

She said, “We did have situations where some of the Uber and Bolt drivers would get down from their cars under the guise of coming into the airport as e-hailing drivers, and they would join the car hires to charge higher fares.

“Based on this, it was important – because everybody was complaining about the touting at the airport – that we even provided some sort of regulatory oversight on the car hires.”

The exit of Uber from Nigeria, she said, “I’m sure that they had their own reasoning, and I know that they had been considering exiting Nigeria for a while, which is indeed why we had a stumbling point with them.

“So it’s not – it has nothing to do with FAAN. Again, the airport is just a small jurisdiction of the area that they cover within Nigeria.”